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I prefer Avery not to talk to anyone, but my reasoning if she asks why might scare her. Jenna and I make a plan that I will quickly grab Avery out of the car while Jenna makes her way to the front entrance first to divert the paparazzi into two directions. As soon as we get out of the car, they start taking pictures and calling out our names. With my strides longer than Jenna’s, I quickly catch up to her and we walk inside together. Once through the front door, I put Avery down as Jenna checks us in at the front desk and introduces me to the receptionist. She has me fill out a form and scans my ID so I can have access to pick up Avery by myself without Jenna. Once the paperwork is filled out and done, Avery takes my hand and practically pulls me toward her classroom.
We get inside and she proceeds to introduce me as her friend to her teachers and classmates. The two teachers look between me and Jenna, confusion written all over their faces.
“I will fill you in later,” Jenna tells them, and they nod in agreement.
“Will you be picking me up too, Cal?” Avery looks up at me with hope in her eyes.
“Absolutely, sweetheart.”
I can feel Jenna’s questioning glare, so I meet her eyes and grin at her, which doesn’t bode well. She narrows her eyes at me, her lips forming a thin line. I return my attention to Avery, kiss her cheek goodbye, and tell her I will see her later.
We walk in silence to the principal’s office, where we are greeted by her assistant who escorts us inside.
The principal looks up from her paperwork and surprise registers on her face at seeing me. Jenna makes the introductions, and we sit down.
“Mr. Harrington, what a nice surprise to see you today. Thanks for coming as well. As I told Ms. Pruitt, the photographers have been very disruptive to our environment and myself and a lot of other parents are very concerned about safety. If this doesn’t stop soon, we’re going to need Avery to find another school.”
“I completely understand, Principal Hayes, and am very sorry for the disruption. I will provide a full-time officer at the door until things calm down, as well as make a sizable donation to the school. We’re appreciative of all the hard work you and your staff do for our children. Again, I apologize for the inconvenience of everything and hope this solution will work for you?”
“That sounds wonderful, Mr. Harrington. Please take my card and call me when the officer is secured and I will give you information on how to make that generous donation,” she tells me, seeming quite satisfied with my answer.
I smile over at Jenna, who stares at the principal with her mouth hanging open in shock. She regains her composure when the principal stands up and shakes our hands. I give her Bridget’s phone number and email for her to discuss the payment of the officer. We say our goodbyes and proceed to leave the building.
“Does money always get you out of trouble?” Jenna asks when we are back in the privacy of her car after maneuvering our way through the paparazzi.
I think about her question for a moment, remembering how she refused my child support. “Not with everyone.” I give her a pointed look and she bursts out laughing. The sound is music to my ears and I feel I just gained a huge victory with her. She’s laughing with me, just the two of us, and I almost forgot how amazing her laugh was. She catches me staring at her and the emotions on my face must scare her because she stops laughing and quickly becomes serious again.
“Um, where am I going?” She asks while turning the car on and I hate that she’s back to acting awkward with me. She’s putting up her protective walls one by one and I just want to fucking smash them all away. I need her to remember how comfortable she used to be with me.
“I thought we were going to work out?” I tease and she gives me a surprised look since she was the one who talked about working out, not “we”.
She looks me up and down, eyeing my jeans and t-shirt with skepticism. “How are you going to work out in that?”
I look down at my clothes, knowing full well I will work out in anything if it gets me more time with her. “I can manage to do weights. Where’s your gym?”
“I was going to work out in my building’s gym,” she answers while driving us out of the school’s parking lot.
“Okay, I’ll just work out with you.”
“Why do you want to work out with me?” she questions with suspicion, and I’m surprised she doesn’t already know that answer. Unless she’s testing me, which I’m beginning to learn that Jenna likes to test people as part of her defense mechanism.
“Because for one thing, I need to get a workout in, and secondly, I think it’s important that you and I spend as much time together as possible so we get to know each other better. I think that’ll help my progress with Avery if I know and understand her mother better.” Everything I said is true, but my ulterior motive is for Jenna to realize that we belong together, and she won’t if I don’t get some alone time with her.
She ponders my reasoning for a few minutes and my intuition is telling me she’s going to turn me down.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea, Cal,” she finally responds. “People will talk and the next thing we know, there will be a story out saying you are living with me. Even though we know the truth, that isn’t fair to Jax.”
“While I disagree with you, I’m in no mood to argue. Why don’t you and I discuss this over dinner?” I try to act serious but the flabbergasted look on her face makes me grin.
“We can’t have dinner out together!” she exclaims with exasperation.
“Why not? People need to eat,” I tell her matter-of-factly.
“Because it will be labeled as a date by the paparazzi, and I can’t have that.”
“Robert told me there’s a restaurant at the top of your building. We can go there and the paparazzi will never know,” I suggest while trying to give her my most charming smile. I haven’t told her where my hotel is yet and I noticed we’ve been going in circles, but I don’t care. I’m enjoying teasing her and don’t want our time to end.
“Of course Robert would tell you that,” she mutters in annoyance. I don’t want to get Robert in trouble, but I do want her to know that he and I communicate.
